Wearable maternity sensor device

ABSTRACT

A sensor device is described that includes a dry electrode, a pressure sensor, and a communication apparatus. The dry electrode is configured to be placed adjacent to a belly of a pregnant patient. The pressure sensor is coupled to the dry electrode to sense pressure within the belly. The sensed pressure indicates counts of physiological activities of a fetus within the pregnant patient over a period of time. The communication apparatus is coupled to the pressure sensor and the dry electrode. The communication apparatus is configured to transmit data characterizing the counts of the plurality of physiological activities to a cloud computing server for generating an assessment of health of the fetus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This disclosure claims priority to Pakistan Patent Application No.679/2019, entitled “Wearable Maternity Sensor Device” and filed on Oct.11, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to a wearable maternitysensor device that communicates with a cloud computing server togenerate, on a web-based application accessible to a clinician, aclinical report indicating assessment of health of a fetus within apatient wearing the sensor device.

BACKGROUND

Throughout the three trimesters of pregnancy, monitoring of the fetuswithin a patient (i.e., mother) is important to ensure that the fetusremains healthy. For example, such monitoring can indicate whether thefetus is under stress. However, such monitoring is often performed onlyat a clinic, and thus fails to diagnose potential health issues betweensuch clinical visits by the patient. There, accordingly, exists a needfor a device that permits frequent and convenient monitoring of theheath of the fetus to ensure that the patient and the fetus remainhealthy.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a sensor device is described that includes a dryelectrode, a pressure sensor, and a communication apparatus. The dryelectrode is configured to be placed adjacent to a belly of a pregnantpatient. The pressure sensor is coupled to the dry electrode to sensepressure within the belly. The sensed pressure indicates counts ofphysiological activities of a fetus within the pregnant patient over aperiod of time. The communication apparatus is coupled to the pressuresensor and the dry electrode. The communication apparatus is configuredto transmit data characterizing the counts of the plurality ofphysiological activities to a cloud computing server for generating anassessment of health of the fetus.

In some variations, one or more of the following can additionally beimplemented either individually or in any suitable combination. Thesensor can further include a top cover, a disc, a circular clip, aspring, a top bowl, a bottom bowl, and a bottom cover. The top cover caninclude a cavity and one or more clips. The circular clip can couplewith the cavity. A bottom surface of the disc can float with respect tothe pressure sensor. A circular edge of the disc can prevent thepressure sensor from dismantling. A top surface of the top bowl can havea projection that is configured to couple with a corresponding cavity ina lower surface of the pressure sensor. The bottom cover can couple withthe one or more clips. The bottom cover can include an opening throughwhich the dry electrode can pass.

The cloud computing server can generate a report that includes theassessment of the health of the fetus. The report can be a web-basedreport that can be updated in real-time. The cloud computing server caninclude an application programming interface, one or more controllers,and or more web modules. The application programming interface canreceive data characterizing the counts of the plurality of physiologicalactivities. The one or more controllers can be communicatively coupledto the application programming interface. The one or more controllerscan compute, using the counts of the plurality of physiologicalactivities, the assessment of the health of the fetus. The one or moreweb modules can be coupled to the application programming interface. Theone or more web modules can generate data characterizing a web-basedreport that includes the assessment of the health, The one or morecontrollers can transmit the data characterizing the web-based report toa computer on which accurate authentication information for accessingthe report is input.

The one or more controllers can store assessment in at least onedatabase communicatively coupled to the one or more controllers. The oneor more web modules can retrieve the assessment from the at least onedatabase to generate the web-based report. The cloud computing servercan further include one or more software development kits that canmodify a web application that displays the web-based report.

In another aspect, a controller within a sensor device can commence, inresponse to pressing of a button on the sensor device, sensing ofphysiological activities of a fetus from a belly of a pregnant patient.The controller can calibrate one or more sensors within the sensordevice based on historical data stored in a cloud databasecommunicatively coupled to the controller. The controller can determinecounts of the physiological activities per unit time once the one ormore sensors have been calibrated. The controller can transmit thecounts to a cloud computing server for assessment of fetal health forthe pregnant patient.

In some variations, one or more of the following can additionally beimplemented either individually or in any suitable combination. Thecloud computing server can generate a web-based report that comprisesthe assessment of fetal health for the pregnant patient. The web-basedreport can be updated in real-time. The web-based report can be updatedat time-intervals determined based on computing resources of the cloudcomputing server. The sensor device can be worn on a maternity belt.Alternately, the sensor device can be a part of clothing of the pregnantpatient. The sensor device is portable.

In yet another aspect, a cloud computing server is described that caninclude an application programming interface, one or more controllers,and one or more web modules. The application programming interface canreceive, from a sensor device, data characterizing counts ofphysiological activities of a fetus within a pregnant patient over aperiod of time. The one or more controllers can be communicativelycoupled to the application programming interface. The one or morecontrollers configured to compute, using the counts, an assessment ofhealth of the fetus. The one or more web modules can be coupled to theapplication programming interface. The one or more web modules cangenerate data characterizing a web-based report that indicates theassessment of the health of the fetus. The one or more controllersconfigured to transmit the data characterizing the web-based report to acomputer on which accurate authentication data for accessing the reportis input.

In some variations, one or more of the following can additionally beimplemented either individually or in any suitable combination. Thecloud computing server can further include at least one databasecommunicatively coupled to the one or more controllers. The one or morecontrollers can store the assessment of the health of the fetus in theat least one database. The one or more web modules can retrieve theassessment of the health of the fetus from the at least one database togenerate the web-based report.

The cloud computing server can further include one or more softwaredevelopment kits configured to modify a web application that displaysthe web-based report. The authentication data can be one or more of:username, password, personal identification number (PIN), answer to asecret question, biometric identification, place of authentication, andtime of authentication.

In another aspect, a system is described that includes a sensor deviceand a cloud computing server. The sensor device can include: a dryelectrode configured to be placed adjacent to a belly of a pregnantpatient; a pressure sensor coupled to the dry electrode to sensepressure within the belly to determine counts of physiologicalactivities of a fetus within the pregnant patient over a period of time;and a communication apparatus coupled to the pressure sensor and the dryelectrode. The cloud computing server can include: an applicationprogramming interface configured to receive, from the communicationapparatus, data characterizing the counts of the physiologicalactivities of the fetus over the period of time; one or more controllerscommunicatively coupled to the application programming interface, theone or more controllers configured to compute, using the counts of thephysiological activities of the fetus, an assessment of health of thefetus; and one or more web modules coupled to the applicationprogramming interface, the one or more web modules configured togenerate data characterizing a web-based report that indicates thehealth of the fetus, the one or more controllers configured to transmitthe data characterizing the web-based report to a computer on whichaccurate authentication data for accessing the report is input.

In some variations, one or more of the following can additionally beimplemented either individually or in any suitable combination. Thesensor device can further include: a top cover comprising a cavity andtwo clips; a disc, a circular clip, and a spring, the circular clipconfigured to couple with the cavity, a bottom surface of the discconfigured to float with respect to the pressure sensor, a circular edgeof the disc preventing the pressure sensor from dismantling; a top bowl,a bottom bowl and the dry electrode, a top surface of the top bowlhaving a projection that is configured to couple with a correspondingcavity in a lower surface of the pressure sensor; and a bottom coverconfigured to couple with the two clips, the bottom cover comprising anopening through which the dry electrode is configured to pass.

Related methods, systems, devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computerprogram products, and articles of manufacture are also within the scopeof this disclosure.

The subject matter described herein provides many advantages. Forexample, the sensor device is portable and wearable. Additionally, thesimplistic structural design of the sensor device makes it easy toset-up (e.g., assemble, and then initiate functionality) and use.Furthermore, the sensor device is compact in size, and thus does notinhibit mobility of the patient. In addition, the sensor device capturesdata non-invasively, and without abrasion of the skin of the patient andwithout applying gels, fluids, or sticky and/or wet pads. Moreover, thesensor device communicates with the cloud computing server to generate aclinical report that the clinician can review remotely, therebyobviating the need for clinical visits when unnecessary. Further, theuse of a cloud computing server is advantageous over a traditionalserver, as the cloud computing server permits a quick scalability bymodification of current web services that generate the clinical reportand/or addition of additional web services within a few seconds.Additionally, the clinical report is displayed only in response to thepatient's clinician inputting authentication data for accessing theclinical report, thereby ensuring computational security of the clinicalreport, which in turn keeps patient data confidential.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the drawings and the description below. Otherfeatures and advantages of the subject matter described herein will beapparent from the description, drawings, and claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a sensor device that communicates with a cloudcomputing server to generate, on a web-based application accessible to aclinician, a clinical report for assessment of health of a fetus withina patient wearing the sensor device, in accordance with someimplementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the sensor device, showingfurther details of the sensor device, in accordance with someimplementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 3 illustrates another perspective view of the sensor device, inaccordance with some implementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the sensor device, in accordancewith some implementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exploded view of the sensor device, inaccordance with some implementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 6 illustrates another view of a top cover of the sensor device, inaccordance with some implementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective view of a dry electrode of the sensordevice when assembled alongside a top bowl and a bottom bowl of thesensor device, in accordance with some implementations of the currentsubject matter.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating various steps performed by thesensor device, in accordance with some implementations of the currentsubject matter.

FIG. 9 illustrates further details of the cloud computing server, inaccordance with some implementations of the current subject matter.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating various steps performed by thecloud computing server, in accordance with some implementations of thecurrent subject matter.

FIG. 11 illustrates some dimensions of the sensor device, in accordancewith some implementations of the current subject matter.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a sensor device 102 being used to generate a clinicalreport 104 indicating fetal health of a fetus within a patient 106wearing the sensor device 102 at various time points. The sensor device102 is configured to communicate with a cloud computing server 108,which is configured to generate data for the report 104. The report 104can be a restricted webpage that can be accessed by a clinician byproviding user authentication data via any computer, such as thecomputer 110. The sensor device 102 is configured to be portable andworn by the patient 106. For example, the sensor device 102 is a part ofa maternity belt 103. In other implementations, the sensor device 102can be a part of the clothing of the patient 106. Structural details ofthe sensor device are described in detail below by FIGS. 2-7.

The sensor device 102 is communicatively coupled with the cloudcomputing server 108 via a communication network such as the internet.In alternate implementations, the sensor device 102 can becommunicatively coupled with the cloud computing server 108 via anyother communication network, which can be a wired network or a wirelessnetwork. The wireless network can be one or more of radio communicationnetwork, cellular network, satellite network, Wi-Fi network, ZigBeenetwork, infrared network, microwave network, light-wave network, andany other communication network.

The cloud computing server 108 is communicatively coupled with thecomputer 110 via a communication network such as the internet. Inalternate implementations, the cloud computing server 108 can becommunicatively coupled with the computer 110 via any othercommunication network, which can be a wired network or a wirelessnetwork. The wireless network can be one or more of radio communicationnetwork, cellular network, satellite network, Wi-Fi network, ZigBeenetwork, infrared network, microwave network, light-wave network, andany other communication network.

The sensor device 102 has an electronic button that can be pressed bythe patient 106 to activate the sensor device 102. Once activated, thesensor device 102 is first calibrated as follows. The sensor device 102,once placed adjacent to a lower abdominal region of the patient 106,begins sensing and measuring physiological activities—e.g., kicks,rolls, punches, jabs, any other fetal activity, and/or any combinationthereof—of the fetus within the patient 106 to generate currentmeasurements of physiological activities. The sensor device 102 has apressure sensor—as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and discussed in furtherdetail below with respect to those drawings—that is configured todifferentiate between each physiological activity by the fetus. Themeasurements of the physiological activity can include an amount (e.g.,number) of the above-mentioned physiological activity per unit time,which can be any time ranging from one minute to a few days. Forpurposes of calibration, smaller time units can help expedite thecalibration process, but larger time units can provide more accuracy tothe calibration.

The calibration process is now described. The sensor device 102receives, from the cloud computing server 108, historical measurementsof such physiological activities. The historical measurements can bemeasurements—stored in the cloud computing server 108—of thephysiological activities earlier sensed and measured for the patient 106during a similar stage in a previous pregnancy, or another patient whois in a similar stage in a current pregnancy. If there is no recordavailable of measurements of the patient 106 or another patient, asnoted above, in the cloud computing server 108, the sensor device 102can retrieve, from the computing server 104, recommended (e.g.,expected, as based on characteristics of the patient 106) values forhistorical measurements, as published by a standard body such as theWorld Health Organization or another entity. The sensor device 102 cancompare the current measurements of the patient 106 with the historicalmeasurements that were stored in the cloud computing server 108. Thesensor device 102 can use this comparison to adjust, for example, thestructural positioning of the sensors within the sensor device 102 sothat the future measurements lie within a threshold amount of a mean(i.e., average) of the historical measurements. Such adjustment ofstructural positioning of the sensors is referred to as calibration.

The calibration can enhance accuracy by ensuring that the sensor device102 is working properly, especially because the accuracy of the sensordevice 102 can potentially degrade over time due to normal/expectedusage. The configuring of the sensor device 102 to be calibrated priorto usage can improve the accuracy, and thus the product quality, of thesensor device 102.

Once the sensor device 102 is calibrated, the sensor device 102, whenplaced adjacent to a lower abdominal region of the patient 106, cancontinue to sense and measure physiological activities—e.g., kicks,rolls, punches, jabs, any other fetal activity, and/or any combinationthereof—of the fetus within the patient 106 to generate currentmeasurements of physiological activities. The measurements of aphysiological activity can include an amount (e.g., number) of theabove-mentioned physiological activity per unit time, which can be anytime ranging from one minute to a few days. For purposes of generatingthe report 104 (as different from the purpose of calibrating the sensordevice 102), the time unit used for measuring each physiologicalactivity can vary with the physiological activity—for example, kicks canbe measured for two hour time periods, rolls can be measured for threehour time periods, punches can be measured for one hour time periods,and jabs can be measured for two hour time periods.

The sensor device 102 transmits, after specific time period for eachphysiological activity (e.g., two hours for kicks, three hour for rolls,one hour for punches, and two hours for jabs) and to the computingserver 104, a count of that physiological activity during that timeperiod for determination of the health of the fetus within the patient106 and the generation of the clinical report 104. Some steps performedby the sensor device 102 are also discussed below by FIG. 8.

The cloud computing server 108 receives, from the sensor device 102, acount of each physiological activity during a corresponding time period.The cloud computing server 108 determines, using those counts, a healthof the fetus within the patient 106. More specifically, the cloudcomputing server 108 can determine whether a collective count of allphysiological activities over a same time period is equal to or morethan a first threshold (e.g., whether total number of distinctmovements, including kicks, rolls, punches, and jabs over a time periodof two hours is equal to or more than six). If such collective count isequal to or more than the first threshold, the cloud computing server108 can record the health of the fetus as healthy. If such collectivecount is less than the first threshold, the cloud computing server 108can record the health of the fetus as needing caution.

When the health of fetus is recorded as needing caution, the computingserver 108 can determine whether the count of any of the physiologicalactivities (e.g., kick, roll, punch, and jab) is equal to or more than acorresponding threshold for respective time units. If the count of anyof the physiological activities is less than a corresponding threshold,the computing server 108 can record that specific activity as being lowfor the fetus.

If the computing server 108 determines that the health of the fetusneeds caution, the computing server 108 can generate an alarm on anoutput device embedded on the sensor device 102. Such output device canbe a display device (e.g., monitor), a speaker, a printer, any other oneor more output devices, and/or any combination thereof. The alarm can beany visual display such as a pop-up window or flashing on the screen, anaudio sound that can last for any preset amount of time, a print-out ona printer, any other one or more alarms, and/or any combination thereof.In some implementations, the computing server 108 can generate an alarmby way of sending an email, making a phone call, sending a social mediamessage, and/or any combination thereof to the patient 106.

The cloud computing server 108 can then generate data for the report104. The report 104 can include a time when the health is determined,and health as being good or needing caution. The report 104 canoptionally include other measurements as well, such as a size of thefetus (as shown in FIG. 1), weight of the fetus, and/or the like, atsuch time. The classification of health as “good” or needing “caution”in the report 104 can be hyperlinked to other webpages that show detailsof counts for each physiological activity. The webpage hyperlinked tothe classification of health as “caution” can further specify theparticular physiological activity that has been lower than acorresponding threshold (e.g. lower than normal/expected count for thatphysiological activity).

Once the clinician inputs accurate user authentication on the computer110, the cloud computing server 108 transmits the data for the clinicalreport 104 to the computer 110 for display thereon. Such clinician withaccess to the computer 110 can review the clinical report 104, andcreate a diagnosis and/or evaluate the patient 106 based on the clinicalreport 104. Further computational details of the cloud computing server108 are discussed below with respect to FIGS. 9 and 10.

The cloud computing server 108 can update the clinical report 104 afterpreset intervals of time, including in real-time in someimplementations. In one implementation, the cloud computing server 108renders data for only a limited number of times, and in such casearchives past time-stamped data in the clinical report 104 in a databaseof the cloud computing server 108. The update of the clinical report 104in real-time can permit the clinician to review the current condition ofthe fetus and/or the patient 106 while also considering pasttime-stamped data, which enables enhanced accuracy of the diagnosis bythe clinician. The preset intervals of time, in other implementations,can be 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, 24 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1month, or any other time interval. In some implementations, the timeinterval can be varied depending on the computational resources—e.g.,type of controllers or processors within the cloud computing server 108,types of databases within the cloud computing server 108, availablestorage space within those databases, and/or any other computingresource—presently available (or alternately available within the pastpresent amount of time, such as past one day or any other time period)at the cloud computing server 108.

The computer 110 is shown as a desktop computer. In alternateimplementations, the computer 110 can be a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a phablet computer, a cellular/smart phone, and/or any othercomputing device. The user authentication data that the clinician inputson the computer 110 to access the report 104 can be at least one of:username; password; personal identification number (PIN); answer to asecret question; biometric identification, including finger or thumbprints, facial recognition, retina scan or any other form of biometricdata; place of authentication (e.g., current geographical location ofthe computer 110); time of authentication; security data obtained froman external device (e.g., security data embedded on a security key fob,one time password obtained from an email or a software applicationconnected to a computing device of the patient 106, or the like); anyother authentication data; and/or any combination thereof. Requirementfor such authentication can ensure computational security of theclinical report 104, thereby keeping patient data confidential.

As noted above, the sensor device 102 has a pressure sensor todifferentiate between each physiological activity by the fetus. Inadditional implementations, an interactive display device (not shown)can be embedded on the sensor device 102, and such display device canseek inputs from the patient 106 to confirm accuracy of identificationof each detected physiological activity as specifically a kick, orspecifically a roll, or specifically a punch, or specifically a jab. Thesensor device 102 can have a processor and/or a hardware accelerator toeffectively implement a neural network (e.g., the processor can performsome operations of the neural network in software, and the hardwareaccelerator can perform other operations of the neural network), whichcan minimize latency. Such neural network can be trained on the specificidentification, by the sensor device 102 and based on the confirmatoryinputs provided by the patient 106, of each separate physiologicalactivity. The trained neural network model can be used to increaseaccuracy of the detections while minimizing confirmatory inputs requiredby the user.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the sensor device 102, showingfurther details of the sensor device 102. The sensor device 102 has acommunication apparatus 201, a top cover 202, and a bottom cover 204.The top cover 202 has a first opening 206 through which a firstelectrical wire 208 passes, and a second opening 210 through which asecond electrical wire 212 passes. The first electrical wire 208connects a pressure sensor (as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and discussed infurther detail below with respect to those drawings) embedded within thesensor device 102 to the communication apparatus 201. The secondelectrical wire 212 connects a dry electrode (as shown in FIGS. 3-5 and7, and described in further detail below with respect to those drawings)embedded within the sensor device 102 to the communication apparatus201.

The communication apparatus 201 can have a computer embedded therein,which can include a programmable processor, a main memory, a read onlymemory, a storage device, a bus that communicates with the electricalwires 208 and 212, and a transceiver that includes a transmitter fortransmitting data to the computing server 108 and a receiver forreceiving data from the computing server 108. In some implementations,the communication apparatus 201 can further include a communicationinterface.

FIGS. 3-7 illustrate various components forming the wearable sensordevice 102. Specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates another perspective view ofthe sensor device 102. The bottom cover 204 has a dry electrode 302,which is surrounded by a surface 304 that forms a cavity. The dryelectrode 302 is configured to sense signals from a belly of the patient106 without abrasion of the skin of the patient 106 and without applyinggels, fluids, or sticky and/or wet pads. The cavity formed by thesurface 304 prevents the entire bottom area of bottom cover 204 fromtouching the belly of the patient 106, thereby rendering accuracy toacquisition of signals from the belly.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the sensor device 102. Thisexploded view also shows the inner components of the sensor device 102;such inner components are visible when the sensor device 102 is eithernot yet assembled or disassembled. The sensor device 102 includes thetop cover 202, a spring 402, a disc 404, a pressure sensor 406 that hasthe electrical wire 208, a top bowl 408, a bottom bowl 410, a screw 412to mechanically connect the dry electrode 302 with the top bowl 408 andthe bottom bowl 410, the dry electrode 302, and the bottom cover 204.The bottom bowl 410 has an opening 414; the dry electrode 302 has anopening 416; and the bottom cover 204 has an opening 418. The openings414 and 416 allow the screw 412 to pass through. The opening 418provides a passage for the dry electrode to pass through.

The top cover 202 has a cavity 420 that can tightly couple with thespring 402 by holding the spring 402. The top cover further has clips422 that lock the top cover 202 and the bottom cover 204 together. Thetop surface of the pressure sensor 406 floats adjacent to the bottomsurface of the disc 404, but the edge surface of the disc 404 preventsthe pressure sensor 406 from disconnecting from the disc 404 when thesensor device 102 has been assembled. A top surface of the top bowl 408has a projection (as noted in FIG. 5), which fits and locks with abottom surface of the pressure sensor 406.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exploded view of the sensor device 102. Thisview additionally shows that the disc 404 is attached to a circular clip502 designed to couple with the cavity 420. As the circular clip 502moves with respect to the cavity 420 (i.e., as the distance between thetop cover 202 and the disc 404 is varied), the compression of the springvaries, and thus the pressure applied on the pressure sensor varies. Thedistance between the top cover 202 and the disc 404 can be adjusted tocalibrate the pressure sensor 406. The top surface of the top bowl 408has a projection 504, which fits and locks with a bottom surface of thepressure sensor 406. The projection 504 has the shape of a square, asshown, and the bottom of the pressure sensor 406 has a correspondingshape. In an alternate implementation, the projection 504 andcorresponding surface at the bottom of the pressure sensor 406 can havea circular shape so as to maximize targeted area so as to maximize thesensing ability of the sensor device 102. In yet another implementation,the projection 504 and corresponding surface at the bottom of thepressure sensor 406 can have any other shape, such as a rectangle,triangle, any polygon, any irregular shape, or any other shape.

FIG. 6 illustrates another view of the top cover 202.

FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective view of the dry electrode 302 whenassembled alongside the combination of the top bowl 408 and the bottombowl 410.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating various steps performed by thesensor device 102. The sensor device 102 can have an electronic buttonthat can be pressed by the patient 106 to activate, at 802, the sensordevice 102. Once activated, the sensor device 102 can begin monitoring(e.g., sensing) physiological activities of the fetus within the patient106. The sensor device 102 can receive data stored within the cloudcomputing server 108 so as to calibrate the sensors within the sensordevice 102. The sensor device 102 can then calibrate, at 804, thesensors using such received data.

The sensor device 102 can continue to monitor the physiologicalactivities once the sensors within the sensor device 102 have beencalibrated. Such monitoring can be in real-time in one implementationwhere the report 104 needs to be, for example, updated in real-time. Inan alternate implementation, such sensing can be performed at specificintervals to reduce or minimize computational latency. The sensor device102 can record, at 806, a count of each physiological activity per unittime. The sensor device 102 can transmit, at 808, the count of eachphysiological activity to the cloud computing server 108 for determininga health condition of the fetus within the patient 106 at different timepoints and generation of a clinical report 104.

In some implementations, a non-transitory computer program product isdescribed that can store instructions that, when executed by at leastone programmable processor, cause the at least one programmableprocessor to perform operations including steps 802, 804, 806, and/or808. In another implementation, a system is described that includes: atleast one programmable processor; and a machine-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causethe at least one programmable processor to perform operations includingsteps 802, 804, 806, and/or 808. In yet another implementation, anarticle of manufacture is described that includes computer executableinstructions stored on non-transitory computer readable media, which,when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform operationsincluding steps 802, 804, 806, and/or 808.

FIG. 9 illustrates details of the cloud computing server 108. The cloudcomputing server 108 can include an application programming interface(API) 902, controllers 904, databases 906, web modules 908, and softwaredevelopment kits 910.

The API 902 can receive, from the communication apparatus 201 of thesensor device 102, a count of each physiological activity. The one ormore controllers 904 can determine, based on a total count for allphysiological activities per unit time, a health condition of thepatient 106. The one or more controllers 904 can store the healthcondition and related data (e.g., count for each physiological activity)in the one or more databases 906. The one or more controllers 904 cangenerate, using the health condition and related data, data for thereport 104 indicating the health of the patient. The one or morecontrollers 904 can transmit—via the API 902 and one or more web modules908 and in response to the clinician inputting user authentication dataon the computer 110—the generated data to the computer 110 for displayin the report 104 on the computer 110.

The API 902 can be a set of subroutine definitions, protocols, and/ortools that define method of communication between the sensor device 102and the cloud computing server 108 and between a client-application thatruns on the computer 110 to, among other things, display the clinicalreport 104, and the cloud computing server 108. The API 902 can ensure,for example, that the data from the sensor device 102 and the computer110 can be read by the one or more controllers 904.

Each database 906 can be a cloud database, which can advantageouslypermit an easy scalability of the database 906 when required (e.g., whenadditional data needs to be stored, which can happen, for example, whenthe number of patients 106 increase beyond a threshold value). In oneimplementation, access to that database 906 can be provided as aservice. In some implementations, the database 906 can be run on virtualmachine instances. In one implementation, the database 906 can be a diskstorage. In some alternate implementations, the database 906 can be amain memory (e.g., random access memory) rather than a disk storage. Inthose alternate implementations, access of data from the main memory canadvantageously eliminate seek time when querying the data, which canprovides a faster access of data, as compared to accessing data from thedisk.

The web modules 908 are a back-end representation of the front-endweb-based application that displays the clinical report 104 on anycomputer, such as the computer 110. In one implementation, one or moreweb modules 908 can be created by assembling servlets, JavaServer Pages(JSP) files, and static content such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)pages into a single deployable unit.

The software development kits (SDKs) 910 are software development toolsthat can be used to modify, if and when needed, the features of theapplication on the computer 110 that displays the clinical report 104.

The use of a cloud computing server 108 can be advantageous over atraditional server, as the cloud computing server 108 permits a quickscalability by modification of current web services and/or addition ofadditional web services within a few seconds. When the data received bythe sensor devices 102 of one or more (including all) patientsincreases, additional controllers 904 or databases 906 can be added—oralternately the processing abilities of the existing controllers 904 ordatabases 906 can be enhanced—within a few seconds. Additionally,inclusion of API 902, controllers 904, databases 906, web modules 908,and SDKs 910 within the cloud computing server 108 can advantageouslyenable: a dynamic provisioning, monitoring and managing of theclinician-application that displays the clinical report 104; as well asan easy and a quick (e.g., within a few seconds) restoring of theclinician's application to a previous version of that application if andwhen required.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating various steps performed by thecloud computing server 108. The API 902 can receive, at 1002 and fromthe communication apparatus 201 of the sensor device 102, a count ofeach physiological activity. The one or more controllers 904 candetermine, at 1004 and based on a total count for all physiologicalactivities per unit time, a health condition of the patient 106. The oneor more controllers 904 can store, at 1006, the health condition andrelated data (e.g., count for each physiological activity) in the one ormore databases 906. The one or more controllers 904 can generate, at1008 and based on the health condition and related data, data for reportindicating the health of the patient 106. The one or more controllers904 can transmit—at 1010 and via the API 902 and one or more web modules908 and in response to the clinician inputting user authentication dataon the computer 110—the generated data to the computer 110 for displayin a clinical report 104 on the computer 110.

In one implementation, a non-transitory computer program product isdescribed that can store instructions that, when executed by at leastone programmable processor, cause the at least one programmableprocessor to perform operations including steps 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008and/or 1010. In another implementation, a system is described thatincludes: at least one programmable processor; and a machine-readablemedium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one programmable processor to performoperations including steps 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008 and/or 1010. In yetanother implementation, an article of manufacture is described thatincludes computer executable instructions stored on non-transitorycomputer readable media, which, when executed by a computer, causes thecomputer to perform operations including steps 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008and/or 1010.

FIG. 11 illustrates some dimensions d1, d2, d3 and d4 of the sensordevice 102 shown in an x-y plane. The dimensions d1 and d2, each ofwhich represent a side of the hexagonal shape of the sensor device 102,have a same value of 8.6547 mm. The dimension d3, which representsdistance between two parallel sides of the hexagonal shape is 14.9904mm. The opening 418 has a diameter of 7 mm. The thickness of the sensordevice 102 along an axial z axis, which is perpendicular to the x-yplane, is 15 mm.

In some implementations, each side of the hexagonal shape of the sensordevice 102 can have a same dimension. In other implementations,different sides of the hexagonal shape of the sensor device 102 can havedifferent dimensions. In one implementation, each of the dimensions d1and d2 can be any value between 7 mm and 10 mm, the dimension d3 can beany value between 13.5 mm and 16.5 mm, the dimension d4 can be any valuebe between 6 mm and 8 mm, and the thickness can be any value between13.8 mm and 16.2 mm.

The dimensions d1, d2, d3, d4 and the thickness, as noted above, furtherclarify the compactness and portability of the sensor device 102.

Various implementations of the subject matter described herein can berealized/implemented in digital electronic circuitry, integratedcircuitry, specially designed application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinationsthereof. These various implementations can be implemented in one or morecomputer programs. These computer programs can be executable and/orinterpreted on a programmable system. The programmable system caninclude at least one programmable processor, which can have a specialpurpose or a general purpose. The at least one programmable processorcan be coupled to a storage system, at least one input device, and atleast one output device. The at least one programmable processor canreceive data and instructions from, and can transmit data andinstructions to, the storage system, the at least one input device, andthe at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) can include machine instructions for aprogrammable processor, and can be implemented in a high-levelprocedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or inassembly/machine language. As can be used herein, the term“machine-readable medium” can refer to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (for example, magnetic discs, optical disks,memory, programmable logic devices (PLDs)) used to provide machineinstructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including amachine-readable medium that can receive machine instructions as amachine-readable signal. The term “machine-readable signal” can refer toany signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to aprogrammable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the subject matter describedherein can be implemented on a computer that can display data to one ormore users on a display device, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) device,a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, a light emitting diode (LED)monitor, or any other display device. The computer can receive data fromthe one or more users via a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick,or any other input device. To provide for interaction with the user,other devices can also be provided, such as devices operating based onuser feedback, which can include sensory feedback, such as visualfeedback, auditory feedback, tactile feedback, and any other feedback.The input from the user can be received in any form, such as acousticinput, speech input, tactile input, or any other input.

The subject matter described herein can be implemented in a computingsystem that can include at least one of a back-end component, amiddleware component, a front-end component, and one or morecombinations thereof. The back-end component can be a data server. Themiddleware component can be an application server. The front-endcomponent can be a client computer having a graphical user interface ora web browser, through which a user can interact with an implementationof the subject matter described herein. The components of the system canbe interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication,such as a communication network. Examples of communication networks caninclude a local area network, a wide area network, internet, intranet,Bluetooth network, infrared network, or other networks.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver can be generally remote from each other and can interact througha communication network. The relationship of client and server can ariseby virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship with each other.

Computer program products are also described that comprisenon-transitory computer readable media storing instructions, which whenexecuted by at least one data processors of one or more computingsystems, causes at least one data processor to perform operationsherein. Similarly, computer systems are also described that may includeone or more data processors and a memory coupled to the one or more dataprocessors. The memory may temporarily or permanently store instructionsthat cause at least one processor to perform one or more of theoperations described herein. In addition, methods can be implemented byone or more data processors either within a single computing system ordistributed among two or more computing systems.

Although a few variations have been described in detail above, othermodifications can be possible. For example, the logic flows depicted inthe accompanying figures and described herein do not require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sensor device comprising: a dry electrodeconfigured to be placed adjacent to a belly of a pregnant patient; apressure sensor coupled to the dry electrode to sense pressure withinthe belly, the sensed pressure indicating counts of a plurality ofphysiological activities of a fetus within the pregnant patient over aperiod of time; and a communication apparatus coupled to the pressuresensor and the dry electrode, the communication apparatus configured totransmit data characterizing the counts of the plurality ofphysiological activities to a cloud computing server for generating anassessment of health of the fetus.
 2. The sensor device of claim 1,further comprising: a top cover comprising a cavity and one or moreclips; a disc, a circular clip, and a spring, the circular clipconfigured to couple with the cavity, a bottom surface of the discconfigured to float with respect to the pressure sensor, a circular edgeof the disc preventing the pressure sensor from dismantling; a top bowl,a bottom bowl and the dry electrode, a top surface of the top bowlhaving a projection that is configured to couple with a correspondingcavity in a lower surface of the pressure sensor; and a bottom coverconfigured to couple with the one or more clips, the bottom covercomprising an opening through which the dry electrode is configured topass.
 3. The sensor device of claim 1, wherein the cloud computingserver is configured to generate a report that comprises the assessmentof the health of the fetus.
 4. The sensor device of claim 3, wherein thereport is a web-based report that is updated in real-time.
 5. The sensordevice of claim 1, wherein the cloud computing server comprises: anapplication programming interface configured to receive datacharacterizing the counts of the plurality of physiological activities;one or more controllers communicatively coupled to the applicationprogramming interface, the one or more controllers configured tocompute, using the counts of the plurality of physiological activities,the assessment of the health of the fetus; and one or more web modulescoupled to the application programming interface, the one or more webmodules configured to generate data characterizing a web-based reportthat includes the assessment of the health, the one or more controllersconfigured to transmit the data characterizing the web-based report to acomputer on which accurate authentication information for accessing thereport is input.
 6. The sensor device of claim 5, wherein the one ormore controllers are further configured to store assessment in at leastone database communicatively coupled to the one or more controllers, theone or more web modules retrieving the assessment from the at least onedatabase to generate the web-based report.
 7. The sensor device of claim5, wherein the cloud computing server further comprises one or moresoftware development kits configured to modify a web application thatdisplays the web-based report.
 8. A method comprising: commencing, by acontroller within a sensor device and in response to pressing of abutton on the sensor device, sensing of physiological activities of afetus from a belly of a pregnant patient; calibrating, by thecontroller, one or more sensors within the sensor device based onhistorical data stored in a cloud database communicatively coupled tothe controller; determining, by the controller, counts of thephysiological activities per unit time once the one or more sensors havebeen calibrated; and transmitting, by the controller, the counts to acloud computing server for assessment of fetal health for the pregnantpatient.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the cloud computing server isconfigured to generate a web-based report that comprises the assessmentof fetal health for the pregnant patient.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the web-based report is updated in real-time.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the web-based report is updated at time-intervalsdetermined based on computing resources of the cloud computing server.12. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensor device is configured to beworn on a maternity belt.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensordevice is configured to be a part of clothing of the pregnant patient.14. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensor device is portable.
 15. Acloud computing server comprising: an application programming interfaceconfigured to receive, from a sensor device, data characterizing countsof physiological activities of a fetus within a pregnant patient over aperiod of time; one or more controllers communicatively coupled to theapplication programming interface, the one or more controllersconfigured to compute, using the counts, an assessment of health of thefetus; and one or more web modules coupled to the applicationprogramming interface, the one or more web modules configured togenerate data characterizing a web-based report that indicates theassessment of the health of the fetus, the one or more controllersconfigured to transmit the data characterizing the web-based report to acomputer on which accurate authentication data for accessing the reportis input.
 16. The cloud computing server of claim 15, further comprisingat least one database communicatively coupled to the one or morecontrollers, the one or more controllers further configured to store theassessment of the health of the fetus in the at least one database, theone or more web modules retrieving the assessment of the health of thefetus from the at least one database to generate the web-based report.17. The cloud computing server of claim 15, further comprising one ormore software development kits configured to modify a web applicationthat displays the web-based report.
 18. The cloud computing server ofclaim 15, wherein the authentication data is one or more of: username,password, personal identification number (PIN), answer to a secretquestion, biometric identification, place of authentication, and time ofauthentication.
 19. A system comprising: a sensor device comprising: adry electrode configured to be placed adjacent to a belly of a pregnantpatient; a pressure sensor coupled to the dry electrode to sensepressure within the belly to determine counts of physiologicalactivities of a fetus within the pregnant patient over a period of time;and a communication apparatus coupled to the pressure sensor and the dryelectrode; and a cloud computing server comprising: an applicationprogramming interface configured to receive, from the communicationapparatus, data characterizing the counts of the physiologicalactivities of the fetus over the period of time; one or more controllerscommunicatively coupled to the application programming interface, theone or more controllers configured to compute, using the counts of thephysiological activities of the fetus, an assessment of health of thefetus; and one or more web modules coupled to the applicationprogramming interface, the one or more web modules configured togenerate data characterizing a web-based report that indicates thehealth of the fetus, the one or more controllers configured to transmitthe data characterizing the web-based report to a computer on whichaccurate authentication data for accessing the report is input.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the sensor device further comprises: a topcover comprising a cavity and two clips; a disc, a circular clip, and aspring, the circular clip configured to couple with the cavity, a bottomsurface of the disc configured to float with respect to the pressuresensor, a circular edge of the disc preventing the pressure sensor fromdismantling; a top bowl, a bottom bowl and the dry electrode, a topsurface of the top bowl having a projection that is configured to couplewith a corresponding cavity in a lower surface of the pressure sensor;and a bottom cover configured to couple with the two clips, the bottomcover comprising an opening through which the dry electrode isconfigured to pass.